We still have a few weeks left to round out our Summer lecture series on Mobile App Management.
Today, we dig in to what has to happen after you’ve built your app store in order to ensure successful ongoing operation. It’s one thing to take a bunch of apps, put them on a website, and tell people to go and get ‘em. It’s quite another to dedicate the time necessary to keep your inventory fresh and your users engaged, to maintain a platform that will invite enterprise mobile application enculturation, rather than rejection.
Like any brick-and-mortar shop, an app store is bound to fail if all the effort and excitement that drove the build evaporates after the proverbial doors are opened. The inescapable truth is that your app store is a virtual presence that demands constant attention and upkeep. We talk to many organizations requesting guidance on app store maintenance, and how to make sure it remains a genuine destination that simplifies a company’s app distribution and management efforts.
One of the most important reasons for ongoing app store maintenance is that the mobile world moves much more quickly than the desktop or even the web world. There are always new app releases. Upgrades and fixes are constant. You need to keep up with that change, staying ahead of the curve in terms of getting the latest versions back to your testers so that versions get verified, and can then more quickly assimilate into your organization. Only then can they really begin benefiting your users.
That idea is simple enough, but simple isn’t easy. The first evolution of an app is arguably the most painless. Smart developers build and stand up the app, but to do that securely, and to manage the inevitable change takes a well maintained app store.
To draw a real-world parallel, think of it in restaurant terms. Maybe you come up with a great concept, a featured cuisine, and you find an ideal location. You plan the menu, get the equipment you need, order everything from flatware to food — but as any restaurateur will tell you, you’re miles away from opening your doors let alone succeeding. You need to hire the right people, determine price points, even make sure you’re in the right neighborhood. And in the process, you’re going to change or refine the initial concept hundreds of times. And once the doors are ready to open, now you know the real work begins. (By the way, you can’t lose with a midweek dollar draft and 10-cent wing special!)
That same level of effort — the work before the work — maps right over to your app store build. Standing it up was a lot of work, and probably even a lot of fun. But once it’s open, a whole new set of challenges are on your proverbial plate, and those are the challenges that real success is all about. Neglect your app store and it’s going to do more harm than good in terms of your organizational enterprise mobile app use assimilation.
That’s the thinking that inspired us to offer App47’s app store platform in the first place. It’s ready to perform and maintenance and upkeep are seriously streamlined. It allows organizations to concentrate on their core businesses, rather than get too bogged down in building an app store from scratch. To cite another parallel (this time, non-restaurant) think about the convenience of SalesForce. Almost everyone appreciates the advantage of spreadsheet automation precisely because they want to spend less time on managing leads, and more time on what’s truly lucrative: closing sales. Plus, you have more time for beer and chicken wings.
Anyone wanting a more detailed look at enterprise mobile app stores will want to join us on Friday, September 14 at MoDevTablet in Rosslyn, VA. App47 CEO Chris Schroeder will discuss navigation of the total app store landscape, going beyond iTunes, GetJar, Amazon and Google Play to include private to enterprise app stores, and to examine factors like expense and ease of management. We hope to see you there!
